The Global Research Council's RRA Self-Assessment Tool for Funders

Summary

The Responsible Research Assessment Working Group, in collaboration with the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), developed an RRA Self-Assessment Tool for Funders, a diagnostic tool that enables funders to self-assess their processes and plan for more structured implementation of RRA aligned with global practices.

This self-assessment tool supports RRA implementation at research funding organisations by helping them embed the 11 dimensions of RRA into policies, processes, and decision-making. Implementation of these dimensions is translated into five implementation stages and a self-assessment questionnaire that aim to help funders position themselves in their journey toward implementing RRA practices while recognising the diversity of funders across the global funding landscape. Accordingly, the tool has been designed to be adaptable to different local contexts and organisational priorities.

This tool is intended for staff at funding organisations who are directly responsible for the development, monitoring, and evaluation of research assessment processes. By working through the questions in the self-assessment questionnaire, funding organisations can situate their practices and policies across each dimension and identify areas for improvement. This tool should be used alongside the Practical guide to implementing responsible research assessment at research funding organizations (2026), which, along with other resources, provides concrete examples and real-world case studies to help translate reflections into action.

The tool will remain evergreen and be updated until the 2027 GRC Annual Meeting, as the working group continues to receive feedback and comments from the community to maximize its usefulness.

Self-Assessment Tool structure

• Executive summary
• Section 1: core concepts for RRA implementation
• Section 2: how to use this tool
• Section 3: the RRA implementation stages
• Section 4: the self-assessment questionnaire
• Section 5: resources to support implementation

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How are the dimensions of RRA defined?

The set of 11 dimensions of RRA was established in 2024 to articulate funders’ vision of RRA and to frame future discussions. The dimensions are summarised in Section 1.2 of the tool. Funders are encouraged to read the full report, which provides additional definitions, descriptions and examples of responsible research assessment practices.

Q2. How are the stages of the RRA implementation stages defined?

The RRA implementation stages are structured around three pillars of RRA implementation:

• Governance and organisational structure
• Capacity building and engagement
• Evaluation and monitoring

These pillars define the five RRA implementation stages, as described in Section 1.3 of the tool. Each dimension is then considered according to the five RRA implementation stage descriptions. The GRC RRA Working Group developed succinct descriptions of each stage of the RRA implementation stages in accordance with the high-level RRA implementation stage descriptions.

Q3. Why should I use the RRA self-assessment questionnaire for funders?

• Evidenced-informed decision-making
  This questionnaire, designed as a practical tool, allows organisations to diagnose their existing practices, thereby identifying and understanding areas where their practices most closely align with RRA principles.
• Supports decision-making
  Subsequently, this tool helps strategic decision-making that will support each organisation’s mission and vision. It enables them to identify a baseline for responsible research assessment within their organisation, from which they can build to an implementation stage that suits them.
• Facilitates internal engagements
  The tool facilitates gathering input and fostering a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities for reform across all organisational levels including boards, leadership and administrators.
• Effective use of resources
  The tool helps organisations to strategically deploy resources most effectively to reduce duplication of effort and build community to address shared challenges.
• Inform engagements
  Conducting the self-assessment tool can lead to insights on how to effectively communicate policies and processes with external stakeholders.
• Provides a structure for monitoring strategy and evaluating goals
  The tool enables organisations to set clear goals and evaluate whether their initiatives are helping to achieve these goals.
• Alignment with international standards
  The tool is structured around the 11 Dimensions, which describe the common understanding of RRA by GRC participant organisations. It has been developed in collaboration with DORA and is intended to complement the Practical Guide to Implementing RRA at Research Funding Organisations.

   

Q4. How should I use the RRA self-assessment questionnaire for funders?

Overall, given that there is no requirement to share or publish the results of your self-assessment outside your organisation, you should consider using this tool in a manner that can best support your organisation’s priorities.

The questionnaire is designed to help funding organisations reflect internally on their practices and policies, but it is not intended as a one-size-fits-all tool. Rather, it is meant to be adaptable to the different organisational contexts and priorities. How you use the questions will therefore vary based on your use case.

Although we have provided a scoring template in the Complementary resource section, if your responses to individual questions are more nuanced than ‘YES’ or ‘NO’, you may expand on these to best support your analysis. For example, if an intervention has been partially implemented, you may describe where the implementation is consistent and where gaps remain.

You may also provide examples or documents demonstrating how this practice works in different units or programmes within your organisation.

Finally, if the answer varies across programmes, you may explain the reasons and whether these differences are intentional, justified and documented.

Q5. How should I interpret the results of the self-assessment questionnaire?

To obtain a quick quantifiable overview of their responses, users can calculate the percentage of responses where they answered ‘YES’ to a set of questions associated with a dimension. This is reflected in the scoring template provided in the Complementary resources section of this page. However, users are encouraged not to rely only upon this quantitative scoring to interpret their results.

Instead, users should compare their responses according to the implementation stage descriptions (Table 2) to identify which stage is best associated with their response. This interpretation should be in alignment with the RRA implementation stages descriptions in Table 1.

The tool is primarily intended to serve as an assistant to guide a funding organisation’s reflection and planning, rather than evaluating one’s performance. The tool could be helpful in planning evaluation exercises, where appropriate.

Users may compile supporting evidence and document nuances to refine results: after completing the ‘YES/NO’ questions, gather examples, records or processes that support your selections.

If the yes/no questions did not fully capture your situation, or if your answers suggested two possible implementation stages, make note of these nuances and context (e.g., partial implementation, piloting or varying practices across units).

This extra level of documentation and due diligence can strengthen internal consistency and will help justify your final assessment.

Users may complement their assessments using this tool by leveraging other external resources. Use relevant international, regional and national materials to further inform your RRA implementation readiness and in a way that reflects both the tool’s results and the realities of your organisation’s environment.